Water skate

ABSTRACT

A water skate for each foot including a buoyant hull structure. Each hull has a vertically pivotable foot support mounted within a well in the hull. Movement of the foot support actuates a lever arm which is fixedly secured to the foot support and extends rearwardly beneath the hull and terminates in a horizontally disposed blade. The blade reciprocates through the water as it is moved by the pivotal movement of the foot support and reacts with the water to provide forward movement of the hull on both the upward and downward motion.

United States Paten [191 Meehan 11] 3,833,956 Sept. 10, 1974 WATER SKATE[76] Inventor: John F. Meehan, 16102 Penninsula Rd., Stanwood, Wash.98202 [22] Filed: June 29, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 267,453

[52] US. Cl. 9/310 D, 115/25, 115/28 R [51] Int. Cl A63 15/04 [58] Fieldof Search 9/310 D, 310 E, 310 R;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,692,055 ll/1928 Sheldon9/310 D FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 273,226 6/1927 Great Britain115/28 R 1,174 8/1887 Sweden 115/28 R Primary ExaminerTrygve M. BlixAssistant ExaminerPaul E. Sauberer Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Seed, Berry,Vernon & Baynham [5 7] ABSTRACT A water skate for each foot including abuoyant hull structure. Each hull has a vertically pivotable footsupport mounted within a well in the hull. Movement of the foot supportactuates a lever arm which is fixedly secured to the foot support andextends rearwardly beneath the hull and terminates in a horizontallydisposed blade. The blade reciprocates through the water as it is movedby the pivotal movement of the foot support and reacts with the water toprovide forward movement of the hull on both the upward and downwardmotion.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures amuse PAIENIED I l/l/dll FIG 2 JOHN F.MEEHAN- WATER SKATE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many attempts have beenmade to provide an individual human with a means to manually propelhimself across water without the need of a boat. Some of the prior artattempts have included hand held poles by which the wearer of buoyantshoes would push against the water surface and propel himself along,much in the way of ski poles, fins or paddles pivotallyseeured to thebottom of the hull which would automatically extend thereby resistingrearward movement of the hull but permitting relatively resistance freeforward movement, a hull or semi hull including a pump means wherebywater would be pulled-intothe hull from the front part of the hull byupward movement ofa plunger and evacuated only rearwardly ofthe hull bydownward movement of the plunger thus providing a jet like forwardaction, and a treadle mechanism'whi'ch turned a standard propellerrestricted toturn in only one direction thus providing propulsion forthe hull.

The problems with the prior art devices and attempts to make man capableof walking on water have been, firstly the physical effort involved inattempting to move a hull solely by means of muscle force of the leg andsecondly the lack of reaction by the water to rearward motion of onehull resulting in quite a great rearward movement at one hull for theamount of forward motion gained with the other hull.

Yet another problem in the prior art devices lies in the amount ofphysical exertion necessary to propel the type of skate using a jetstream for forward propulsion.

vide a water skate wherein an individual may manually.

propel himself across the surface of the water at a greater speed thanheretofore achievable.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a waterskate which has relatively few parts and thus is inexpensive tomanufacture.

Still another object of the present invention is to pro-- vide a waterskate wherein the entire motion of the wearers legs and feet istransposed into forward motion of each of the hulls and the leg motionis very similar to that of walking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of thepreferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section through FIG. 1 illustrating the footsupporting and propulsion mechanism; and

FIG. 3 is yet another view of the water skate showing I another possiblehull embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS As can be seen in FIG. 1 the hull 2is a buoyant structure of a configuration which offers very littlefriction when traveling through the water having an exterior shell 4 anda well extending from the top of the hull to a position adjacent thebottom. It should be understood that the design of the hull is entirelyoptional and not critical to the present invention. The only requirementof the hull is that it have enough buoyancy to support an individualhuman. It is well within the contemplation of the present invention thatthe hull may be made of a molded plastic structure, such as shown inFIG. 2 having a hollow water tight compartment providing the buoyancy oralternatively as shown in FIG. 3 being formed of a foamed, closed cellplastic. It is likewise well within the scope of the present inventionthat the hull could be made of a thin plywood over a light framework ora water tight outer shell the interior of which is made of foamed closedcell substance such that if the outer shell were to be punctured orbroken the hull would retain its buoyancy. For purposes of travelthrough the water it is, of course, desirable that the hull be as smoothas possible such that it is preferred that the exterior surface beentirely smooth with the exception of the area where the lever arm whichsupports the blade, hereinafter described, extends through the hull.

Referring now to FIG. 2 the method of providing forward motion for thewater skate comprises a platform or foot support 8 pivotally mounted tothe bottom 10 of the hull 2 and having a frictional upper surface 11 forsupporting the foot. The foot support may well include a heel support 12and a toe strap 14 such as those normally used on water skis, thusproviding a secure grip on the wearers foot. The forwardmost portion ofthe foot support 8 is turned upwardly at 16 and has rigidly securedthereto by any conventional means a rearwardly extending lever arm 18.As noted above, the

' foot support 8 is pivoted, the motion being about fulcrum point 20 onthe bottom 10. A bracket 22 is secured to lever arm 18 and likewisepivoted at 20, reinforcing the am 18. Thus it can be seen that movementof foot support'8 about fulcrum 20 causes lever arm 18 to simultaneouslyand directly pivot about fulcrum 20. The point at whichthe lever arm 18extends through the bottom part of the hull is provided with a sealingmember 24 of any suitable configuration preventing the ingress of water.

The lever arm 18 extends generally rearwardly to terminate in ahorizontally disposed blade. Blade 26 having upstanding edges 27 ispivotally mounted at point 27 to the rearwardmost end of the lever arm18 and has stops 28 and 30 restricting the pivotal motion of the paddle.Upstanding edges 27 serve as stabilizers in that they tend to keep theskate moving in a straight path.

The lever arm 18 and the paddle 26 are hydrodynamically shaped to alloweasy passage through the water, provide less resistance and gain greaterspeed of the hull with less effort on the part of the wearer.

In operation the wearer steps into the well 6 in the hull, secures hisfeet within the straps 12, 14 upon the foot support 8 and proceeds towalk. Since the blade 26 and the'lever arm 18 can be folded back againstthe bottom of the hull it is feasible to walk upon firm ground; Uponentering the water and reaching the point where the hulls are buoyantthe wearer simply alternately rocks his right and left foot around thepoint 20 causing the lever arm 18 and the connected blade 26 tooscillate in a vertical path through the water. As

the blade 26 is moving downwardly it will pivot about point 27 andassume the configuration as shown in solid lines in FIG. 2 and duringthe upward motion the configuration is shown in phantom lines of FIG. 2.Thus it can be seen that both the upward and downward motion of theblade provide forward force to the hull enabling the rider to traversethe water at relatively fast speed.

In summary, it can be seen that the water skates as hereinabovedescribed allow a person of limited means to enjoy a water sport. Sincethe skate is not actually fitted, it is possible that all members of onefamily could use the same set of skates.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A water skate comprising;

a buoyant structure having an opening extending from the top to aposition adjacent the bottom of the hull foot supporting means pivotallymounted to the bottom of the hull at the bottom of the opening arearwardly extending lever arm secured to the foot supporting means formovement therewith and a horizontal blade secured to the rearward end ofthe lever arm whereby pivotal movement at the foot supporting meansmoves the blade providing forward motion on both the up and the downmovement of the foot supporting means.

2. A water skate as in claim 1 wherein the foot supporting meanscomprises a lever adapted to be moved upwardly and downwardly by thewearer.

3. A water skate as in claim 1 wherein the foot supporting meansincludes a means for holding the foot in the appropriate position.

4. A water skate as in claim 1 wherein the blade is pivotally mounted tothe lever arm whereby the blade gives a forward thrust on both theupward and the downward stroke of the arm.

5. A skate as in claim 1 wherein the forward end of the foot support isbent upwardly and the lever arm is rigidly attached thereto.

6. A water skate as in claim 1 wherein the lever arm is a rigid rod of ahydrodynamic shape and the blade is mounted parallel to the surface ofthe water, said blade being generally of a tear drop shape in crosssection.

7. A water skate as in claim 1 wherein the hull is of a hollowconstruction having a smooth exterior surface.

8. A water skate as in claim 1 wherein the hull is of a rigid closedcell plastic substance.

1. A water skate comprising; a buoyant structure having an openingextending from the top to a position adjacent the bottom of the hullfoot supporting means pivotally mounted to the bottom of the hull at thebottom of the opening a rearwardly extending lever arm secured to thefoot supporting means for movement therewith and a horizontal bladesecured to the rearward end of the lever arm whereby pivotal movement atthe foot supporting means moves the blade providing forward motion onboth the up and the down movement of the foot supporting means.
 2. Awater skate as in claim 1 wherein the foot supporting means comprises alever adapted to be moved upwardly and downwardly by the wearer.
 3. Awater skate as in claim 1 wherein the foot supporting means includes ameans for holding the foot in the appropriate position.
 4. A water skateas in claim 1 wherein the blade is pivotally mounted to the lever armwhereby the blade gives a forward thrust on both the upward and thedownward stroke of the arm.
 5. A skate as in claim 1 wherein the forwardend of the foot support is bent upwardly and the lever arm is rigidlyattached thereto.
 6. A water skate as in claim 1 wherein the lever armis a rigid rod of a hydrodynamic shape and the blade is mounted parallelto the surface of the water, said blade being generally of a tear dropshape in cross section.
 7. A water skate as in claim 1 wherein the hullis of a hollow construction having a smooth exterior surface.
 8. A waterskate as in claim 1 wherein the hull is of a rigid closed cell plasticsubstance.